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By: Diana Moukalled

“God help us win over them,” chanted the girl who was being carried on shoulders, before she tilted her head a little and cried then pulled herself together to chant again. This young girl has previously chanted against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but in this protest she was chanting against other unjust people.

This girl is crying and chanting against the al-Nusra Front.

This young Syrian girl led the residents of ar-Raqqah in protest against this extremist front that, ever since it infiltrated the Syrian revolution, began to implement an extremist bloody agenda when dealing with residents of areas where it’s deployed. The front arrested the girl’s father for no clear reason, and it won’t release him or others who are now in its jails suffering from its lashes, bullets and knives.

In a video published by activists on YouTube, we can see girls and veiled women screaming in front of the al-Nusra headquarters and condemning the group and what it’s committing under the slogan of their revolution. The angry residents attempted to restore the slogans from the first day of their revolution so they screamed “peaceful, peaceful” and announced that they will escalate their activity against this group.

Nobody is watching

Few media outlets were concerned about this protest since there’s no media concern regarding the activity of ar-Raqqah’s residents. Before that, there was no media concern in the activity of Saraqeb and Aleppo residents either. Few media outlets concern themselves with the activity that began in more than one Syrian city and town against the practices of al-Nusra and other extremist groups. Activity against such groups aims to voice rejection of their detestable violent ideologies and methodologies, and some towns and cities and reject this ideology just as they have rejected the practices of the Syrian regime.

A huge category of media outlets have placed themselves in a moral crisis, whilst probably being aware of it. In the past months, a formula stating that there’s a fight between Bashar al-Assad on the one hand and Abu Saqqar – who ate a man’s heart and became the poster child for media outlets who are against the Syrian revolution – on another was strengthened.

Lashing a man and killing innocents under the excuse of infidelity and eating a heart are stories that deserve to be highlighted for weeks and months. It’s not a problem that they receive expanded coverage. The blood of the 100,000 victims evaporated.

The media coverage does not have space for the activity of the ar-Raqqah residents, and before them, Saraqeb and Aleppo residents who revolted over the assassination of a child, Mohammed, under religious excuses.

The media that claims it supports the revolution is not less unjust towards the Syrians. It focuses on the Islamic brigades, intentionally ignoring any civil activity. Activists have frankly stated that a satellite channel clearly told them it’s not interested in such civil activity. Such channels dedicate plenty of their coverage for everything that is Islamic, like the al-Nusra Front, in an attempt to show their role in the Syrian crisis.

Once again, Abu Saqqar killed the 100,000 Syrians after Bashar killed them before him. This is what those who claim to be neutral want us to believe. They are using Abu Saqqar as an image to hide behind, forgetting the blood that was shed and overlooking a brave girl like the one from ar-Raqqah.